I like history. To gain a better understanding of how my ancestors lived, I read about the history of cities and towns. I even like to learn about the history of streets, who lived there, what businesses were there, and what they used to look like — even those my ancestors may not have walked on.
Recently, I came across the genealogy of three streets in the east end of Montreal that intrigued me.
In the Rosemont-La Petite-Patrie neighbourhood, there are three streets that run parallel to each other. Davidson is in the middle, and Darling and Cuvillier are on either side.
Rues Davidson and Cuvillier are named after women. RueMasson.com reports both were named in 1887 after women who were members of an elite circle of Montrealers who socialized with a prime minister and a Father of Confederation. One woman was Scottish. The other was French Canadian.
Almost ten percent of the streets in Rosemont-La Petite-Patrie have been named after women. The oldest, such as Rachel (1834) and Casgrain (1879), were named in the early 1800s.
Mary Davidson, 1876. Photographer: William Notman. McCord Museum.
Davidson
Rue Davidson was named in honour of Mary Davidson. Mary and her husband William Darling lived in Hochelaga, a Francophone neighbourhood next to Rosemont, for much of their life.
Mary and her husband were born in Edinburgh, Scotland. They had eight children together.
Little is known about Mary, but we do know that her husband immigrated to Montreal in 1849 when he was about 20 years old. He made his fortune in business, investing in banks and insurance companies, and he was a close friend of Canada’s second prime minister, Alexander Mackenzie (1873-1878).
William Darling, Montreal, 1868. Photographer: William Notman. No. 1-35125.1. McCord Museum.
As for rue Darling, next to Davidson, you guessed it. The street was named after Mary’s husband.
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Here’s some genealogy trivia for you: The Société généalogique canadienne-française is located at 3440 rue Davidson.
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Now, for the story about the third street.
Marie-Angélique Cuvillier, 1865. Photograher: William Notman. McCord Museum.
Cuvillier
Runing parallel on the other side of Davidson is rue Cuvillier, named after Marie-Angélique Cuvillier. She was born into a rich French Canadian family in Montreal in 1811. Her father, Augustin Cuvillier, was a businessman and the only Francophone among the nine founders of the Bank of Montreal.
In 1833 Marie-Angélique married Alexandre Maurice Delisle soon after he was admitted to the bar. They eventually had seven children. Alexandre invested in railways and became the president of one of Canada’s first railways, the Champlain and St. Lawrence. Early in his career, he was elected to the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada. He was a close friend to one of the Fathers of Confederation, Georges-Étienne Cartier.
Both Marie-Angélique and her husband were involved in real estate. Alexandre built a three-storey store-warehouse across from Bonsecours Market in what is known today as Old Montreal. Marie-Angélique owned several properties in Old Montreal, downtown Montreal, Griffintown, and in Montreal’s east end.
When she died in 1886, Marie-Angélique owned several pieces of land, bridges and toll roads, but was drowning in debt because of high mortgage rates.
The street was named in Marie-Angélique’s honour a year after her death even though there is no evidence she ever lived in that area. She actually lived in what is now known as the Latin Quarter.
Rues Darling and Cuvillier run parallel on either side of rue Davidson. Screenshot of GoogleMaps. March 2015.
As for Marie-Angélique’s husband, he also had a street named after him — rue Delisle in Montreal’s southwest neighbourhood.
You can read the RueMasson article, Deux femmes baptisent deux rues… en 1887, and click on a link about Rachel and Casgrain streets here.
